Inside the 'Good Wife' Shocker: Why Was [SPOILER] Killed Off?

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!

Talk about major shocker! One of the longtime main cast members of The Good Wife was killed off during tonight’s episode (March 23) and we are so sad right now.

CBS has been billing the past three episodes, including tonight’s shocker, as a major event and now we know why.

The episode followed Josh Charles‘ character Will Gardner trying to get his client played by Hunter Parrish off of a murder charge. It also followed Julianna Margulies‘ character Alicia Florrick being pursued by the Office of Public Integrity, who told her that Will was ready to give testimony against her husband Peter in an election rigging case.

Click inside to find out who was killed off the show and the reason for the departure…

Sadly, Will Gardner (Josh Charles) was shot and killed during a courtroom shooting by his deranged client. While this is a big shocker for fans of the show, this has been in development for over a year.

Josh asked the producers of the show to let him out of his contract at the end of the previous season, according to Deadline. His co-star and the show’s producer, Julianna Margulies, was able to convince him to stay on for the current fifth season so that the writers could have a chance to write him off the show. The entire main cast of the series was informed of his impending exit at the end of the last season and Josh even directed two episodes this year to help ease the transition.

“The pleasure has been all mine. I’ve learned so much working with both of you & I’m in awe of your talent & storytelling,” Joshtweeted to the writers of the show after the episode aired.